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Bags packed, cameras charged and loaded I’m sitting at the gate in SFO waiting for the 7 am flight to Las Vegas and my first Interbike show. I’m looking forward to seeing friends and meeting some of the reps I’ve corresponded with through Velodramatic. Tonight the plan is to photograph Cross Vegas and tomorrow night the USA Crit finals. Shooting racing at night, under the lights will be another first (probably tough, I hate flash). Temperature at 9pm is forecast to be 80 degrees; I thought it got cold in the desert at night?

Tomorrow morning, as I expected, Lance will be making an unscheduled appearance at the show. The press conference and media scrum is at 9. I knew I should have brought a helmet.

There’s a whole list of gear I want to see, in particular: Mavic’s new clothing and shoe lines; Campagnolo Record 11 (which is destined to trim out the next bike in the stable whatever that may be); Rapha’s softshell gilet (Rapha’s not exhibiting, but I’m hooking up with Slate and he’ll have samples); Shimano’s electronic Di2 stuff (I’m not converting faiths, but I’m keen to see if the reports about the shifting precision are accurate); and lots more. If I’d been thinking I’d have asked my doctor for beta blockers, the adrenaline rush may be too much.

Somewhere in the mix, I might slip away from the bicycles and catch a Vegas show, we’ll see.

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